Only in a game . . . .

I think I’ve said before that one of the things I love about RPGs is the over-the-top b.s. we get up to, that I would never put into a story. Like tonight, when a French artificer, a Haitian capoeirista/houngan, and a Japanese-American onmyoji (this totally sounds like the setup to a joke) stole three camels, one of whom is a reincarnated lama in hiding (the pun was intentional, and IC to boot) from a Tibetan peasant, and left in payment a gem nicked out of the fifteenth-century Kazakh tomb of Tamurlane’s chief wizard.

I would never mash those elements into a story together. But it’s fun.

Next week, we break into the hidden basement of the reconstructed Ganden Monastery to steal an angelic artifact from under the noses of the communist Chinese police. Wish us luck!

Thirty K.

Word count: 30,038
LBR census: I think fear counts as blood.
Authorial sadism: Since my last update . . . making Irrith play politics, and making Galen face down twenty-five tons of By The Way You Know You’re Mortal, Right?

Halfway through Part Two (of seven). I don’t feel like my narrative momentum has quite cohered yet, but we’re getting there. Mostly it’s still Irrith giving me trouble. Unlike Galen, she didn’t show up with her intestines on a platter, asking if I’d like to play with them; I’m having to pry useful conflict out of her.

This is what happens when you write a relatively care-free character. It’s hard, getting her to care about stuff.

But Galen’s at the Royal Society now. I wonder just how many photographed pages of minutes I’m going to read through before I decide I really don’t give a damn when Henry Cavendish first attended a meeting, and that nobody will much care if I put him there in late 1757. After all, biographical info on the guy is remarkably sketchy, so aside from the minutes, there’s probably no record at all of when he showed up for the first time. And given that I had to photograph handwritten pages out of giant leatherbound volumes you can only get by applying to use the Royal Society library and then filling out request forms, the odds of anybody being able to call me on my error are pretty low.

(If a piece of historical accuracy falls in a forest and there’s nobody qualified to notice, does it constitute an error?)

Er, nevermind. Since they helpfully put visitors at the beginning of each set of minutes, and those are easy to find, I, um, already found my answer. June 15th, 1758. Possibly not his first meeting, but the first one in the range I copied, and therefore the first that will appear in this narrative.

(If a piece of historical accuracy falls in a forest and a deranged writer runs over to prop it back up again, does it constitute grounds for involuntary commitment?)

Bedtime now. Before I go even crazier.

more thoughts on Iran

Things are getting worse over there. More violent, as the basiji and the riot police and the Revolutionary Guard crack down, dispersing crowds, attacking protestors, hauling people away to jail. Which isn’t good — but in the end, this may be what takes Khamenei down. I honestly don’t expect him to survive (politically speaking) past the end of this. Rafsanjani is almost certainly in Qom, and it sounds like he’s gathering enough support to either replace Khamenei with a new Supreme Leader, or ditch that structure entirely for something else (though still a theocratic something else). It’s possible Khamenei will muster enough armed force to survive the complete loss of legitimacy for his regime; he could potentially pull off naked military dictatorship. For a while. But I’ll be surprised if he does.

If you’re looking for a one-stop shop for Iranian updates, you could do worse than to go with Andrew Sullivan; he might drown you under the sheer flood of updates, but he’s staying on top of things.

I bring him up because he made a point the other day that’s really stuck in my head, regarding the way these events have changed American perception of the Iranian people. Not long ago, they were one pillar of the Axis of Evil: unknown, unknowable, the frightening horde who might destroy our way of life because they are Not Like Us. I think that’s changed, at least for anyone who’s been following this news. They may be anonymous, but they aren’t Other. How can they be, when they use Twitter and Facebook and Youtube, like any American might do? It isn’t just the familiar service names, either; it’s the way they connect us directly to Iranian voices. You can read their thoughts in 140 characters or less — broken, misspelled, sometimes mangled by Google Translate’s newly-instituted Persian capability, but it’s like they’re speaking in your ear. You can cheer the protestors on as they make riot police break and run; you can look through the eyes of the man filming a group of basiji arresting and carting away one of his neighbors, the camera perched on the windowsill, the man himself probably crouching out of sight so the basiji don’t spot him and arrest him, too, and hear his whispered curses. You can listen to a young woman speaking in darkness, while around her Tehran chants “Allahu Akbar” into the night sky.

You see people. You hear people. Foreign, but not alien. Men, and a lot of women; some old, but many young. Maybe they don’t speak English, or don’t speak it well, and maybe their ideas of what kind of freedom they want aren’t the same as yours, but that’s the Iranian people, right there on your computer, half a world away.

Bad journalism turns events into empty words, events without faces or meaning. Good journalism weaves it into a narrative, trying to create the reality in your mind, but even then it’s mediated and polished and tidied up. This is raw, fragmentary, chaotic, and immediate. This is a peephole through which you can glimpse a very large whole.

And when it’s over — whatever the outcome — there will be a lot of Americans who see people where the Axis of Evil used to be.

The Littlest Orange Belt Is Feeling Clever

Yes, I really do mean to use that icon.

When you have a (popped) blister on your left foot that extends partway under the edge of a callus and you don’t want the skin to tear because it’s going to be unpleasant when it does and besides you’ll be grinding dirt into it all karate class long which is a good way to get an infection but band-aids come flying off the moment you pivot unless you put tape over them and that leads to you STICKING TO THE FLOOR when you try to pivot . . .

. . . then sometimes, just sometimes, you get clever.

You dig out your old lyrical shoes — which only barely qualify as “shoes” — and that protects the necessary area while still leaving you 95% barefoot.

And you don’t stick to the floor.

awesomeness and fair use

Most of you have probably seen this, as it’s been posted from here to Siberia, but:

I first saw it on sartorias‘ journal, and there’s been an interesting little debate over there. We can all agree, I think, that putting the little assertion on the video that it constitutes fair use means precisely jack; it wouldn’t do any good in court. Having said that — is this fair use?

Well, we can’t decide that, any more than the vidder can; the only thing that can really establish an answer (so far as I’m aware) is a court case. But I think it is. I saw commentators over on sartorias‘ LJ breaking the two halves apart, talking about how the vid definitely parodies Twilight but plays its Buffy scenes fairly straight. IANA IP expert, but I don’t think that’s the way to view it. The question is the purpose of the work as a whole, not its constituent parts. And I’d say, in my opinion, that the vid in its entirety does indeed pass that test.

Collage can qualify as transformative work, so far as I’m aware; you can cut up and re-use copyrighted material in order to make a larger work. Montages are the same thing, in video. So if you put together a montage which serves a distinct purpose, one not identical to that of the original material, then yes, I think it should count as fair use. It’s possible, I suppose, that a judge could say this is fair use of Twilight (since Stephanie Meyer’s purpose was not to show Edward as a creepy, socially inept stalker who deserves staking), but not of Buffy (since Joss Whedon’s purpose was, among other things, to critique certain tropes of vampire narrative). But I see this as the layperson equivalent of using, oh, Judith Butler’s theories to comment on gender issues in Twilight. You apply one thing to another thing in order to make some points about it. Why should it be different just because the thing being applied is material from a media franchise, rather than the words of an academic 99% of the country has never heard of?

Of course, it is different. One of these entities has the money and possibly the will to pursue a court case over potential infringement; the other does not. But however practical that difference may be, the concept of it annoys me.

I think things like this should be fair use. I think society benefits from the ability to play things off one another in this fashion, to engage with them directly, rather than leaving them in hermetically-sealed containers such that we can only look at them through the glass. Will this vid financially damage Buffy and those who profit from it? Probably not. Will it damage Stephenie Meyer et al? Maybe. After all, Twilight is the target of the criticism here. But a negative review can do the same thing, and can include quotes from the text to boot. I see just as much original effort in the (exceedingly well-done) editing of these video clips as I do in the composition of that review.

(Tagging this “fanfiction” because it’s a crossover narrative in vid form, but mostly because this is part and parcel of my thoughts on fanfiction, so it’s better to keep them all under the same tag.)

minor neatness

The small neatness is that “A Mask of Flesh has apparently earned an Honorable Mention in the twenty-sixth Year’s Best Science Fiction, edited by Gardner Dozois. (I had no idea he also recced fantasy; that story is definitely not science-y in its speculation.)

The much bigger neatness is that I’m one of NINE Clockwork Phoenix authors so honored — which, for an anthology with eighteen stories in it, is a damned impressive success rate. Congrats not only to my fellow authors, but most especially to Mike, for putting together such a great volume!

(Now might be a good time to mention that you can buy the second volume in the series . . . or the first, if you haven’t already. I’ve got stories in both.)

One door closes; another one opens.

Sadly, it appears that Talebones is closing. When I sold them “The Snow-White Heart,” I hoped that meant the magazine would continue on, but Patrick Swenson has decided to call an end, after thirty-nine issues. I hope the plan to perpetuate it as anthologies works out, though; I’ve enjoyed my dealings with Patrick, and the anthology market appears to be reviving after years in a moribund state, so that may actually be a viable course of action.

Let me segue from that bad news to some good news that arrived while I was on the road, hence not posting it until now. You may recognize the name of Beneath Ceaseless Skies, the biweekly online magazine that has brought you (among other things) my stories “Kingspeaker” and “Driftwood.” I’ve discussed them magazine before; they’re publishing good, strong narrative fantasy that happens to cover a broader range than usual of settings. In the nine months they’ve been running, I’ve seen Middle Eastern settings, African ones, Asian, Mesoamerican, frontier Western . . . Scott Andrews, the editor, has a real commitment to exactly the kind of experimentation I like.

I bring them up because Scott has recently completed arrangements for BCS to qualify as a non-profit, and that means he’s started seeking donations. (I don’t know for sure, but I think he was funding it out-of-pocket before.) He’s paying pro rates for a nice diversity of stories, both in print and podcast forms, and As You Know, Bob, the number of magazines doing that nowadays is shrinking steadily. I don’t know about you, but I want to see this one survive. It’s the only magazine I’ve ever encountered where I read every story (though not all of them work out for me), where I will in fact make the effort to go back and read issues I’ve missed, if I was busy or traveling when the new one(s) went live.

I can’t give it a stronger recommendation than that — without pretending it provides you with a free flying unicorn that shoots lasers and is a ninja whenever you read a story.

How much you donate, and on what schedule is up to you. You can give a lump sum now, or chip in fifty cents every time you read (or listen to) a story you like. Whatever. But check it out, and if you like what they’re doing, give a thought to supporting them. This isn’t charity; it’s a business model, and I hope it succeeds.

thoughts on Iran

I don’t have anything terribly deep to say on the subject; what I knew about Iranian politics a week ago would have made about one medium-sized paragraph, and that was it. But I’ve been following the news since the election, and want to download some of these thoughts out of my head.

(more…)

All is right with the world.

Last night I stayed up late writing, and today I slept until late in the morning, and a week after returning home, I am finally back to my normal self. All is right with the world.

So it seems a good time for more linky. First up, another Mind Meld:

Many world-building science fiction and fantasy writers get their inspiration from real-life places. What real-life city seems the most fantastical or science fictional to you?

I of course start out by saying London, but use that as a jumping-off point for talking about what makes a place fantastical or science fictional to me.

Next, an interview I meant to link days ago, but was slapped down by brief illness: Lobster and Canary (not remotely to be confused with Cat and Muse), where I am interviewed by a fellow Harvard folk&mythie — though not one from my own time there. (Also, if you missed it during LJ’s problems last Friday, I point you once more at the interview with Alma Alexander.)

Third — because I might as well just make this a post of miscellanea — something I missed during LJ’s problems last Friday, putting me well behind the train when I finally saw it come through, but Catherynne Valente has posted the first chapter of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, which is utterly delightful. There will be new chapters every Monday, and there is a story behind why she’s conducting the project this way.

Fourth — utter silliness — “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” literalized, in case there’s anybody left on the planet who hasn’t seen it already. Basically, what if the lyrics to a song actually described what was happening in the music video?

Fifth, a cute poem explaining the whole Schroedinger’s Cat thing.

I have one more thing open in my browser that needs linky, but it needs more serious linky than this, so I’ll save it for now. Ladies and gents, as I startled my husband by loudly declaring to what I thought was an empty house, I’m finally back! I feel like myself again.

two things with me in them

It being the 16th, I’m over at SF Novelists again. This month’s post, “A matter of leverage,” is about my newest favorite metaphor for characterization. Go comment over there instead of here; you don’t need an account or anything to post.

I’m also over at PodCastle, but this time in a new capacity — I’m the reader! Rachel Swirsky, editor of PodCastle and ironically-minded lady, recruited me to read a story called “In Ashes.” I haven’t listened to it myself, other than to check the sound levels before sending it off to Rachel for clean-up editing; I can’t stand listening to my own voice. (Because it never sounds the way it does in your own head, y’know?) But hopefully other people will enjoy it. If you want to comment on that one, PodCastle has both blog comment threads and a forum, so offer your feedback there.

And that’s that

The last Deeds of Men winner has been chosen. Thanks to everyone who signed up for the newsletter — I’ll make it as interesting and news-ful as I can.

Don’t forget that you can still post comments or questions on the discussion thread (same goes for Midnight and Ashes, of course). And I do hope to have more Onyx Court short fiction for you guys in the future — not while I’m plugging away on this novel, probably, but maybe after it’s done I’ll get “And Blow Them at the Moon” or “Bow Street Runner” written.

But first, novel.

That might explain it

My calculations, via Google Maps, suggest I walked about ten miles that day in Westminster. Which is hardly a world record, or even that impressive in the grand scheme of pedestrian activity — but it goes some way toward explaining that whole blister thing.

I guess I should have toughened my feet up more before I headed to London.

Break’s over; back on your heads.

On the one hand, taking a month off from the comet book gave me time to rethink some important things in Part One, which will make it much easier to proceed from here.

On the other hand, taking a month off from the comet book killed my discipline and momentum like whoa and damn.

Some of that’s the jet lag talking, mind you, which has hit me far worse than usual. (Might have something to do with me being on the road for a straight month; mostly I was in the U.S., but jet lag is as much about your general level of energy as it is about time zones.) I actually took a nap this evening instead of going to see a movie, just because I knew if I didn’t, there was no way I’d stay conscious late enough to get my work done. Another thing lost in my absence was my ability to sleep through kniedzw‘s alarm, you see, so I’ve been up since 7:30, which is just not natural for me. And my attempt to get work done this afternoon failed miserably.

I had more success just now, despite the lethargy brought on by a longer-than-expected evening nap. 1057 words, sending Galen to Vauxhall. It’s a pity the gardens there are long gone; I would have loved the chance to wander around them, instead of trying to put eighteenth-century paintings together with later plan views to understand how the place was laid out.

Word count: 21,146
LBR census: Love. Somebody in Galen’s family had to not suck.
Authorial sadism: Making it a windy night. Though that was only a little mean. (I’ll have to try harder tomorrow.)

Two things I forgot to mention

One is that for the duration of June, Midnight Never Come is available as a one-dollar e-book. You can pick up a Kindle copy at Amazon, or eReader or what have you at Fictionwise, and maybe other formats elsewhere — but the offer only lasts until the end of the month.

The other is that I will be doing a reading and signing at Borderlands Books in San Francisco tomorrow (Saturday) at 1 p.m. If you’re in the Bay Area, come on by, and hear some assortment of short stories and/or excerpts from In Ashes Lie. (I really should make a decision on what I’m reading . . . .)

RIP

Things you’re unaware of while on the road: David Eddings has passed away.

Before I moved to California last year, I went through our fiction shelves, re-reading the various series I was keeping on hand out of childhood nostalgia. In many cases, it was a farewell, one last look back before they got culled from the herd. But the ones I found myself still enjoying got kept.

kniedzw and I had an interesting debate about Eddings: I wanted to keep the Malloreon, and he wanted to keep the Belgariad. I caved, because it didn’t matter to me all that terribly much one way or another — but it’s worth noting that I wanted to keep something. There are any number of flaws to both series (not least of which is that they tell essentially the same story, which then gets rehashed twice more in the Elenium and the Tamuli, in slightly shorter form), but when all’s said and done, I still really like the characters and their interactions, just as I did when I was thirteen.

There’s a piece I want to write someday, an adaptation of a paper I wrote in graduate school, about a particular way of looking at Tolkien clones. Yes, these books feature a motley assortment of characters traveling all over the map, accompanied by a wise old wizard, in pursuit of a powerful magic object that a dark god is trying to acquire — we’ve read that story before. But I saw very clearly in this re-read which things Eddings brought to the table, that Tolkien was never interested in: Politics (admittedly of a simple sort). Trade and economics. Relationships, not just in the romance stages, but onward to marriage and children; by the time you’re done with the Malloreon, Eddings has hitched up every major character from those ten books. (Even the eunuch settles down, in his own way.) He makes his own omissions — aside from the vaguely Asian look to the Angaraks, this is a melanin-challenged world, and underhanded things like spying get a very rose-tinted depiction — but I can still appreciate the additions. This isn’t just Middle Earth all over again.

So we still have the Belgariad on our shelves. The Malloreon, I think, was a more mature iteration of the story (and had the entertaining virtue of writing a justification for the rehash into the cosmology), but I’m okay with its predecessor being the one we kept. It means I can pick up one of the books, find a favorite scene, and spend a moment bidding farewell to David Eddings himself.

home again

I got home last night and crashed hard. Was passing out on the couch by 10 p.m., fell asleep in record time once I actually shambled upstairs to bed, slept like the dead.

I’m in the process of responding to comments on my trip posts, and also answering e-mails. I haven’t read LJ since late May, so if you posted anything I should know about, let me know; no way I’m trying to catch up on all that back matter.

So very nice to be home again.

Open Book Thread: In Ashes Lie

It does occur to me (now that I’m starting to get my brain back — I’ll be home this evening, yay!) that street dates are normally Tuesdays, but hey, Amazon swears blind that mine is today, and they’re never wrong, right?

Since I’m not a big enough name for bookstores to put me on the special “don’t shelve this too early or we’ll get sued” list, it doesn’t matter much one way or another. Happy Street Date for In Ashes Lie! Unless you’re in the UK, in which case I believe you have to wait just a couple of weeks longer.

Comments and questions on the book are welcome here (and you don’t need an LJ account to post). If you haven’t read the book yet — which most of you, I expect, have not — just come back later; I’ll link to this from my site so you can find it again.

(Previous discussion threads for Midnight Never Come and Deeds of Men are still open, too.)

Why I’ll never live in New York City

Someone neighborly (below? next door?) to the place I’m staying in NYC are having a giant screaming fight loud enough for me to make out every bloody word of it. The guy hates his fucking job, and he hates his fucking life, and there’s nothing he can fucking do about it because he’s lucky to have a job, and the girl fucking hates the fact that none of her fucking friends have ever met him because he never wants to hang out with people, and they pay ridiculous fucking rent but when the fuck are they going to be able to move, etc, etc, I’m actually under-representing how often the word “fuck” is employed, and if I close the window to try and mute their voices I will swelter to death in my sleep.

I like living in places with sufficient air conditioning and/or thickness of wall and/or distance between residences and/or manners among residents that I don’t end up listening to this kind of thing.

Now apparently she doesn’t understand how he hates his fucking life because she has a fucking perfect life, fuck her, fuck her, fuck her, etc.

It all makes me feel extremely awkward.